More Links

Northwestern Edges Penn State in Low-Scoring Affair

from Press Release

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Facing an opponent
hungry to end a long history of futility against the Wildcats, No.
6 Northwestern staved off a pesky 10th-ranked Penn State squad,
5-4, on a rainy Friday night in University Park, Pa. The outcome
lifted Northwestern to 2-1 in American Lacrosse Conference action
this season and dropped PSU to 2-2, as the Wildcats won for the
19th straight time against Penn State.

It was the first time in Kelly Amonte Hiller's Northwestern
tenure that the Wildcats won a game in which they scored five or
fewer goals. NU's previous low goal total in a victory was six in a
6-5 defeat of North Carolina in the 2005 season-opener.

With torrential rains making it difficult to operate on attack
-- and forcing the Wildcats to change from purple to dry black
uniforms at halftime -- hard-dodging senior Kat DeRonda provided
the offensive spark and recorded her fourth career hat trick in the
win. Northwestern held on for the win despite going scoreless over
the final 22 minutes of the contest.

Current ALC Defensive Player of the Week Bridget Bianco was the
story of the soggy first half, making six saves in 30 minutes, the
last of which came on a clean look for the Nittany Lions with three
seconds before the halftime horn.

Northwestern also received another stellar performance from
Alyssa Leonard, who won all six draw controls that the Wildcats
claimed in Friday's low-scoring affair.

Bianco opened the game with a save on Penn State's first
possession, and a few minutes later the Wildcats opened the scoring
on an 8-meter goal by Lauren Murray. Northwestern then went in
front 2-0 when Kaleigh Craig made her defender pay for going for an
interception behind the cage, quickly wrapping the crease for the
score.

The complexion of the first half changed when an apparent Kara
Mupo 8-meter goal was taken off the board on an illegal stick call,
a play that was followed quickly after by Penn State's first goal
of the evening, courtesy of Kelly Lechner.

Northwestern endured an 11-minute scoreless drought before
DeRonda broke the ice with her first score of the night at the
10:52 mark, lifting NU's lead to 3-1. After a Madison Cyr goal for
Penn State, Bianco and the Wildcats defense stepped up for the
duration of the first half as NU carried a one-goal advantage into
intermission.

Bolstered by their halftime uniform change, the Wildcats struck
first in the second stanza when DeRonda scored unassisted less than
a minute into the half. Soon after, Northwestern hit its third
crossbar of the night but retained possession and went ahead 5-3 on
DeRonda's third of the evening.

Penn State would score the game's final goal with 10:40
remaining and was forced to play a man down during a critical
stretch of the game after a yellow card issued to standout Tatum
Coffey. The Wildcats claimed possession off a turnover with five
minutes to play and whittled the clock down to 2:30 before PSU was
hit with yet another yellow card, handcuffing the hosts for the
stretch run.

Penn State did manage to fire one final shot attempt in the last
minute of play, a half-chance that was handled easily by
Bianco.